.

Here, gathered in our beloved South Dakota, are a few members of our Williamson / Mattson Clan. Charles and Luella are to be blamed (be kind, they didn't know what they were doing). We're generally a happy bunch and somewhat intelligent (notwithstanding our tenuous grasp on reality). I'm also proud to say that most of us still have our teeth.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

The Gathering of the Cousins in 1967

The Cousins Gather at our home at 210 N. 42nd Street Rapid City.

From the Fortress of SolitudePleasant Grove

We moved from our hilltop home on Signal Heights in 1966 and moved to South Canyon area of Rapid City. At some time in 1967 the cousins gathered for a picture in our living room. Aunt Linda was up visiting from New Mexico along with her three boys. Linda was married to Sam Dennis at the time. Pam and Marvin Mattson's eldest daughter Shelley is balancing on Jon's leg. Don't know how she's staying upright.Brian was three in this picture, Patrick was five and Michael was four.

So in this picture we have from the left to the right on the back row Kim (10 years old) partially hidden by Jilane. Then me (9), then Kevin (6) with this toothless smile then Patrick (5 years old).On the front row we have from left to right we have Jilane (2) on Kim's lap, then Michael (4), then Brian (3) followed by Janice and Jon (both 4) then Shelley (18 months) with the cute round face.

This was one of the few times we saw our cousins from New Mexico.

Our time living in South Canyon was the happiest in my childhood. We had awesome friends and a neighborhood full of places to explore. We had the Monkey Village, an overgrown gully with a creek and trees with plenty of swinging ropes.

Every morning we'd be off to South Canyon Elementary. After school we came home, did our chores and headed outside. Our play radius consisted of several blocks. Mother never worried about us. We took care of ourselves. We'd play until twilight then head home for supper and a bit of black and white TV then bed. Bewitched was one of our favorite shows. We liked The Wild Wild West also.

The three boys had our own room in the basement. I remember it took some time before we built the courage to sleep in the basement. At first we refused. It wasn't until Dad took us downstairs and walked us through the furnace room (the scariest place in the house) that we felt comfortable with sleeping down there on our own.

Well, I'm coming down with another cold. First it was a cold at Christmas time followed by strep throat. Now another cold. What am I doing wrong this year? Maybe its all that hand sanitizer I use. Of course if could be the 70 hours I work each week. Yea, crazy isn't it?

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Warning! Please Read On.

Tracing one's genealogy can be a tricky endeavor. Once you move past three or four generations, the information you discover on the internet may or may not be accurate. What you read on this blog represents the best I've found using Ancestry.com, The LDS Church's Family Search, and Google. Corrections are gladly welcome. Please send your information to AnAmericanDynasty@gmail.com

I'm interested in information on two family lines in particular.

I'm searching for our Vercellino family from Northern Italy and our Mattson /Tornberg family in Sweden. Again, you can reach me at AnAmericanDynasty@gmail.com